2018 starts with record low cut-off score for the start of a new year since Express Entry inception

The year began with a bang and lots of good news for the Express Entry pool applicants with the first threshold lowering to 446, which is a record low as a first draw in a year since Express Entry came into functionality in 2015
In this first draw the Canadian government invited 2,750 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence. The draw was held on January 10, 2018.

This score is the same as the last CRS threshold for 2017, which was held on December 20. Since 2015, this first cut off is the lowest ever. IRCC also made use of the tie-break rule again and the cut- off date and time was set to November 18, 2017, at 6:30:42 UTC.

In 2017, the first draw had a cut off of 468, but subsequent draws saw lower thresholds with the minimum dip ever in June at 413. This year is expected to be a busy one, with immigration targets set at almost 1 million till 2020. 16 draws were held in the first half of 2017, but this year is envisaged to see many more draws as immigration targets go up. CRS thresholds are also expected to fall as more ITA’s are sent out in each draw.

In 2017 a total of 30 draws were held with 86,023 ITA’s being sent out. 3200 more ITA’s are expected to be sent out in the three Express Entry economic streams alone, with many more immigrants finding way into the country through the Family Class and the PNP programmes.

A total of 153,618 ITA’s have been issued since the Express Entry economic streams came into existence in 2015. The no of ITA’s issued in 2017 alone is almost 56 percent of the total ITA’s issued so far.

This year has started at almost 22 points less than the first draw of 2017. It is expected to translate into more people coming in through the Express Entry during the course of the year as larger and more frequent draws are held to accomplish immigrant targets. This in turn will definitely mean lower cut offs all throughout the year.